Law and Governance in pre-Modern Britain is the third conference on this general theme held at The University of Western Ontario, and the first to focus entirely on the pre-modern period. Over the course of two days we will hear from an international group of leading legal historians with interests in literature, gender, marriage, and rebellion as well as legal education, the development of the profession, pardon, process and performance. The theme of the conference is intentionally broad, and the speakers have been asked simply to talk about whatever aspect of their research interests them most at the time.
We expect that discussion will range widely over the field, covering issues of process and procedure, content and format. The speakers' interests cover a broad geographical, chronological, and thematic span, from the performance of law in early Ireland to the English ecclesiastical courts, from lordship in medieval Scotland to the legal profession of early modern England, and many things in between. Three of the speakers are heavily involved with either the Anglo-American Legal Tradition website, which thus far provides over 6 million frames of medieval and early modern material from the National Archives in London, or the Early English Laws project to re-edit and translate all English legal texts written before Magna Carta, and thus are playing a role in revolutionizing the way we access sources and conduct research. Four are authors of volumes of the Oxford History of the Laws of England, either in print or in preparation, and thus are shaping the way we will understand the field for a generation.
The conference will take place in the Moot Court room of the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario, and the atmosphere will be informal, with ample opportunity for discussion and conversation during breaks or over the conference lunch or Friday night dinner. Registration is available online, but will also be available on-site at the time of the conference. Space is limited at the conference dinner, however, so early booking is strongly recommended.
Financial support for this conference has been provided by Research Western, the faculty of Social Science, the faculty of Law, the faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Student Donation Fund and the department of History
